Other Paralympic gold medallists such as Sloavkia's Jan Riapos, Norway's Tommy Urhaug and Russia's Raisa Chebonika will compete at the tournament in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy, on the Adriatic Coast.

YouTube sensation David Wetherill, who has nearly 6.5 million views on a video of one of his incredible shots from London 2012, will also be competing, along with fellow Brit Will Bayley, who took Class 7 silver at last summer's Paralympics and at the 2012 event in Lignano.

British pair Will Bayley (left) and YouTube celebrity David Wetherill (right) will compete at the Lignano Masters Open this week

In three of the classifications at the event- the men's class 1 and women's classes 6 and 7 – all medallists from London 2012 will be present.

Paralympic champion Nikelis will be defending his Lignano Masters class 1 title, as well as Dutch Olympic class 7 gold medallist Kelly Van Zon, who defeated Kubra Ocsoy of Turkey in the final last year to claim the title.

A total of 232 players-171 men and 61 women- from 19 countries have entered the tournament, which is due to end on Sunday (March 24).

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]